3 ms·
This is a classic case of "it's not a product, it's a feature". This is true of almost everything in healthcare that's software-related: it's only useful if it'
by wayoutthere 7y ago
This is a classic case of "it's not a product, it's a feature". This is true of almost everything in healthcare that's software-related: it's only useful if it's integrated with the EMR. This is why you never see software startups in healthcare.
In this case, similar functionality (drug recommendations) exist within EMR systems. Except the recommendations are issued by other doctors and medical researchers, not some ML algorithm and it works transparently with the pharmacy management modules.
Moral of the story: don't get involved with healthcare startups unless you know the structure and economics of the industry. They are very different from consumer / business tech.
- rsp1984 7y agoThere's barely anything more frustrating than a fascinating discussion on HN and then folks start kicking around lingo and acronyms that you can't even Google because they could mean a million things. So please, have mercy and cure my ignorance and explain what EMR means.
- CompleteWalker 7y agoBest guess is Electronic Medical Record... I had to google it. https://healthit.ahrq.gov/key-topics/electronic-medical-record-systems https://healthit.ahrq.gov/key-topics/electronic-medical-reco...
- wayoutthere 7y agoEMR is basically anything and everything related to the operation of a doctor's office and/or hospital. Think scheduling, patient records, ordering lab tests, sending prescriptions to the pharmacy, billing.... all of it. It's what your doctor is furiously typing data in to during your visit. They also include a lot of functionality designed to, among other things, make sure your doctor doesn't write you prescriptions for a drug cocktail that will kill you. It's spoken about as a monolith because that's how it's sold -- there are maybe a dozen platforms in wide use (which are then usually customized by a system integrator for a big hospital). They do have every option you could possibly think of. I'm not criticizing you here (you're not trying to do a medical startup), but anyone who is trying to do a medical startup needs to know a whole lot about EMR systems -- more specifically how they are bought and sold -- if they want to make any traction. All medical software flows through the EMR, and they are closed platforms by design.
- rsp1984 7y agoSure. Thank you for the explanation!